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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I read this thread because of the complaint in website feedback. I am an atheist, I feel like I'll be up front about that, but I am a lapsed Catholic and have spent a lot of time marinating on these topics and I do not have ill will toward religion (although I do believe some people have used religion to do evil throughout history).

OP I think many people are experiencing a version of what is happening to you in many aspects of life. Many of the activities and groups and communities we used to connect with one another have been damaged by the pandemic and the time apart. It is an adventure we are all undertaking to find a way back to one another. I would take solace in the fact that it is still new and it will likely take another couple of years for us all to find our footing in this new normal. While I can't necessarily speak to reigniting faith, I do feel like reigniting passion in any activity takes time and commitment and openness and, critically, consistency. Showing up and putting yourself out there can make all the difference.

I think its really unfortunate that a few posters wanted to label you a troll and appear to have fabricated arguments with atheists to bring this thread so far off topic to argue about whether all gods are the same. I think it is less complicated than people are making it out to be. There are Christians and Muslims and Buddhists and on and on and there are some people who are agnostic but see the common threads from cultures and believe in a god that they are uncomfortable naming and there are people who believe in no god. Simply believing different things is not disrespectful. It can be true that a Muslim and a Christian believe fervently and truly that their gods are not the same, and that an entirely different human sees the similarities between them and comes to the conclusion that they are based on the same God. It could be that none of the three are right, it could be that any combination of them are right. Faith is when you choose what to believe, but the reality is that we are all just trying to find an explanation, and generally we're not trying to be mean to one another when we disagree.

I think the divisiveness here (which I am surprised to see I think comes from a Christian who is preemptively aggressively postured against atheists) is not going to help OP find a way back to their faith. I think the best advice you will get here OP is to get off of DCUM and find a more supportive community. [/quote]

The moderator deleted some of the more hateful atheist comments, so you don’t see them now.

For the record, I’m not the person calling OP a troll and I think that was just one poster. I also raised no objection to OP exploring Buddhism.

As an atheist you’re perhaps oblivious  to how some of the atheist posts are landing. As early as the bottom of the first page an atheist starts pushing the argument that religion is man-made and pursues that line of argument for several pages. At the top of the second an atheist snarks, “yeah my god is better than your fake god….” and then later on page 2 an atheist threatens to post “crazy stuff” from the Bible. By page 3 an atheist is claiming the NT is anti-women. None of which OP asked about, and all of which represent hijacking.

IMO the basic problem is that Christians actually expect to be able to ask questions and get sincere answers, which runs hard up against atheists’ special animus for Christians. Note that Muslims and Jews rarely start threads—they seem to have learned to get their religious advice elsewhere. Christians should take a page from their book and stop bothering with this forum. [/quote]

I read a lot of posts in a lot of forums. I would gently say that maybe you are hypersensitive to ANY atheist sentiment. I read through every single page of this thread and while I'm happy the hateful atheist posts were deleted, I did see some that were annoying, but no more difficult to skirt around than the trollish posts that hit every forum here on DCUM. Rather then have their thoughts just exist there as one in a sea of many, a bunch of people take the bait and the thread totally off topic. Poor OP comes back a few hours later to total chaos, branded a troll when they appear to be someone genuinely trying to reconnect with their relationship with God and a complicated theological debate when it seems like they really just need some comfort. Don't let some trolls make you lose sight of what the basic tenets of Christianity are (and I am not saying that passive aggressively or as a dig, but genuinely, don't let trolls turn YOU into a troll, its happened to me occasionally too and its no fun). [/quote]

Again, the goal of at least 2 atheists here seems to be to drown out and shut down all conversations about Christianity, using the excuse that “religion” covers  absolutely anything they want to throw into the mix as a derailment. You can go on other fora and get 50-75% useful content. Not so on this forum, and that’s the problem. [/quote]

This is false, there are loads of threads here with no atheist debate.  The majority, actually.  But this particular thread requires it for honest participation.

For instance, if someone feels "cut off from god", how is that different than if god does not exist?  Isn't that a possible answer?[/quote]

OP specifically asked for “advice for re-connecting with God.” Not for your opinion about whether God exists at all.

Honestly, you seem to think you can use the excuse “this is the Religion forum” to shoe in a whole litany (sorry) of atheist arguments (on this thread: religion is man-made, the OT has some crazy stuff, the NT is anti-women) into every thread here, no matter the thread topic.

As if this being a religion forum means every single thread must go directly to first-principles discussions about the fundamental validity of religion.

Do you go on the Family Relationships forum and, on every thread about the in-laws, try to stir up first-principles debates about how relationships should look, whether people should be cis vs non-cis, and whether people should get married at all?[/quote]

You are a dishonest person.

Look at the threads.  The majority of them have no atheist comments or content. You just don't like it when it does, even a little.  Well, that's unfortunate.  I understand why you don't, and actually have a bit of sympathy for you with regard to it.  It's hard to espouse a position for which there is so little evidence.

And yes, in other Forums people do offer differing opinions about parenting, gardening, real estate, money, popular culture, college admissions... pretty much all the active forums, and yes, sometimes things get a little heated.

[b]But you know what only happens in the religion forum?  People saying "I don't want you to share your opinions on the topic of the forum because I disagree with them".  That's right.  Only here does that happen.[/b]
[/quote]

Thank you for making this analysis and expressing it.[/quote]

Oh look, DCUM’s two 24/7/365 atheists are agreeing with each other and bumping each others’ posts.

Newsflash: you calling someone dishonest doesn’t make it true. In fact, it’s pretty rich coming from some of the most dishonest posters on DCUM. And it’s relevant that an atheist who isn’t one of you 24/7/365 types went through this thread and found exactly ONE page of relevant advice for OP out of about NINE pages at the time.

You just don’t want to see the point: a question about returning to religion is not an invitation for you to tell OP that religion is false.

It’s like going on the Relationships forum and telling an OP who is looking for advice about her MIL that she shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place because marriage is an outdated and bougie institution.

Except you do this on every single religion thread to try to drown out any other conversation about religion. [/quote]

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